Acronyms used herein are listed below following the detailed description. While wireless services have been available for some time in many parts of the world, there are certain regions such as rural areas where there are too few customers to justify-a mobile network operator (such as a LTE operator) from deploying a sufficient number of base stations to provide adequate coverage across the region. To address this coverage gap sometimes another operator may deploy what is generally known as a citizen (or customer) broadband radio service device (CBSD) to act as a relay node (RN) to the user equipments (UEs) operating in areas not served by the LTE system. This CBSD will have a wireless interface to a donor base station such as a nearby DeNB of the conventional LTE network. The LTE system holds the license to use the radio spectrum in this region, and because the CBSD itself is not part of the LTE network it must get authorization to use the wireless spectrum from the LTE system. In generic terms this authorization is obtained through a spectrum authorization service (SAS), which as will be detailed below may or may not be the operator of the LTE network to which the DeNB belongs.
Typically the DeNB will have a fixed line connection and backhaul connection to the SAS and to the core network and Internet, while typically the CBSD/RN will not. The DeNB needs radio spectrum to communicate with its UEs and also with the DeNB, and needs spectrum authorization to use both of those air interfaces. But the underlying radio environment outlined above is there are few UEs served by the RN so spectrum allocation is not an ongoing continuous matter. A problem arises in that the RN cannot request radio spectrum authorization to serve a UE without first having an authorization from the SAS to use some radio spectrum to make that request. Generically, the CBSD/RN cannot request spectrum authorization without using the spectrum before being authorized. Embodiments of these teachings address this problem. But note the CBSD as RN is only one example of a deployment in which these teachings may be used to advantage; they are also suitable for a wireless home router operating with shared spectrum, or one UE acting as a RN to other UEs by ‘tethering’ those other UEs to shared spectrum, to name just two others.
The following references may have some relevance to these teachings.                Rural Backhaul for WISPs and ISPs, by Motorola, Inc. (May 4, 2007; https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/business/_documents/static_files/rural_backhaul_for_wisps_and_isps.pdf, last visited Mar. 21, 2017).        Guidelines for LTE Backhaul Traffic Estimation, by NMGM Alliance (Jul. 3, 2011, https://www.ngmn.org/uploads/media/NGMN_Whitepaper_Guideline_for_LTE_Backhaul_Traffic_Estimation.pdf, last visited Mar. 21, 2017) (particularly page 8).        Study of Future Demand for Radio Spectrum in Canada 2011-2015, by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Jun. 1, 2012, https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10277.html?Open=1&wbdisable=true, last visited Mar. 21, 2017) (particularly section 6.3.4).        Wireless Backhaul Spectrum Policy Recommendations and Analysis, by GSM Association (October 2014, http://www.gsma.com/spectrum/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Wireless-Backhaul-Spectrum-Policy-Recommendations-and-Analysis-Report.-Nov14.pdf, last visited Mar. 21, 2017) (particularly pages 15-17).        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/236,216 entitled Method and Apparatus for Controlling High Power Transmission).        